Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) is often identified as an agile and brave leader. His courage and bravery is surely not without proof. At least, the three bloodiest conflicts in Indonesia have been resolved by means of peace by JK. An essay writing competition by Jenggala Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS) was held to celebrate his courage to become a peacemaker.
The competition was held on July 1 to August 30 and produced 25 best writings. These essays are written in English which will be compiled into an edited book. The hope is that this book will be a valuable global reference for peacemaking and further enliven the discourse of peacemaking not only in Indonesia but also in the world.
JK and peace at a glance
As a statesman with an entrepreneur background, Jusuf Kalla has thousands of reasons to live happily with his wealth. However, his courage and determination has led him to take his life to the next level by taking a step into prolonged conflicts only to achieve one goal: peace.
At least three bloodiest conflicts in Indonesia, namely the conflict in Ambon and Poso, and in Aceh were pacified thanks to JK’s work. These conflicts did claim many lives. But the coming of peace then saved millions of lives.
Outside of JK’s work as Vice President, he leads an organization that focuses on peace in the Asia Pacific region called CAPDI (Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International). Not in power for the period 2009 – 2014, JK continued to utilize his energy and mind for supporting the nation by taking responsibility for being the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (2009-present) and Indonesian Mosque Council (2012-present).
At least, 11 world-class institutions, home and abroad, bestowed the highest academic title, Doctor Honoris Causa to JK for their contribution and dedication to maintaining peace and development both in Indonesia and the world. Hiroshima University, for example, gave the title because the university believed that JK’s peace experience was a major contribution to maintaining good relations between countries in the world.
JK leadership and statesmanship prove that peace is truly beneficial for our humanity. “Only peace can realize human civilization,” JK believes.
About the essay competition
The contest entitled “En Route to Jusuf Kalla’s Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize” was held by JISS which is owned by Jenggala Center, in collaboration with the Overseas Indonesian Students Association Alliance or Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Dunia (PPI Dunia).
The main purpose of this competition is to promote JK’s peacemaking ideas and work to the world that we have considered so far as an experience full of knowledge, stories and lessons. However, there have not been many efforts to publicize them, especially in English. That’s why this contest was held.
The competition took place from 1 July – 30 August 2018. Of the many entries, the committee shortlisted 54 works that were then presented to a panel of juries to be further assessed. The panel of juries consists of:
- Suhartono, KOMPAS Journalist
- Firmanzah, Rector of Paramadina University
- Pandu Utama Manggala, Chair of the PPI Dunia 2017-2018
The judging results have selected the 25 best essays (attached) and were announced on last week, October 26, 2018 on the JISS website (jiss.jenggalacenter.org). These 25 best essays are planned to be compiled into an edited book and will be launched in early December at a dining reception with the Vice President along with the awarding reception of prizes to the three best essay writers.
The three best essay writers will receive prizes of 10 million, 7.5 million and 5 million Rupiah respectively.
Suhartono, as a representative of the jury stated that, overall, the contents of the essay were mostly about peace and the main role of Vice President Jusuf Kalla in peacemaking in Ambon, Poso, Aceh, Southern Thailand and Afghanistan.
It must be acknowledged that the panel has had little difficulty in assessing the essays that have entered the contest. They saw that all essays were valuable works that all contribute positively to the discourse of peacemaking in Indonesia and the world.
However, in the assessment process, the judges were accompanied by an assessment rubric containing five main elements of the essay that were assessed or marked, namely originality, clarity, coherence, use of resources, and references to JK ideas about peace-making or just peace-making ideas from Indonesian perspective.
As an illustration of the results of the assessment, the first winner succeeded in presenting its original idea by making JK’s thoughts and experiences to deal with a conflict in other regions. The essay brought the idea of JK’s peacemaking to solve religious crisis and conflict in Kaduna, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, West Africa, which was quite intense.
“The explanation is also clear and in-depth. The presentation (of the idea) is well structured, and the reference sources are quite strong and broad and prospective to be realized and in line with what has been, is and will be done by Vice President JK like (what he has done) in Ambon and Poso, Aceh, Southern Thailand and Afghanistan,” said Suhartono.
From the results of the assessment based on those elements, here are 25 best essays from this essay contest.
| Writer(s) | Essay title | Prize |
| Ricky Antonius Margareta, Rangga Cesario, Fransiska Andita | Possible Applications of the Jusuf Kalla Approach in Resolving the Kaduna Religious Crisis | 1st prize |
| Edwin Arifianto | From conflict to sustainable peace: Jusuf Kalla path toward Noble Prize recognition | 2nd prize |
| Cecep Hermawan | En Route to the New Model of Efficient Conflict Mediation: Jusuf Kalla’s Interpersonal Approach to Peace | 3rd prize |
| Vita Fulla Mayliya, Audrey Rachalia Achmad | The Involvement and Significance of Jusuf Kalla in Supporting Indonesia’s Role to Promote Peace and Conflict Resolution | Best 25 |
| Nibras Balqis Sakkir | Musyawarah-Mufakat: Indonesian Diplomacy Through the Jusuf Kalla Experience | Best 25 |
| Muhammad Ammar Hidayahtulloh | Peace Memorial Hall of Aceh: Preserving Peace in Aceh through Learning the Lesson of the History | Best 25 |
| Lingga Utami, Rengga Akbar Munggaran | Jusuf Kalla Social Movement’s: Conflict Resolution Strategies In Poso To Inspire Further Global Peacemaking | Best 25 |
| Natasya Fila Rais, Agnes Kusuma Wardani | Increasing Indonesian Women Representation in the United Nations Peacekeeping Corps as a Contribution towards Indonesia’s United Nations Security Council Non-Permanent Membership | Best 25 |
| Muhammad Adam & Bisma Yadhi Putra | Jusuf Kalla and His Soft Approach behind Aceh Peacemaking | Best 25 |
| Jerry Indrawan | Jusuf Kalla Role for Positive Peace: A Step for Nobel Peace Prize | Best 25 |
| Edrida Pulungan | Peacemaking Ala Jusuf Kalla : Humanity, Peace and Poetry | Best 25 |
| Juniar Laraswanda Umagapi | Ambon Right Now, Socio-paradigm and Political Issue as the Main Trigger of Conflict and The Current State of Post-Secularism in Indonesia | Best 25 |
| Umi Sa’adah | Can We See The Rainbow? The Beautiful Peacemaking | Best 25 |
| Annas Rolli Muchlisin | Universal Peace Messages in Jusuf Kalla’s Thought and Practice of Reconciliation | Best 25 |
| Galby Rifqi Samhudi, Hanief A Hakim Harahap, Randy Arbina | Jusuf Kalla’s Strategy In Peace Struggle Towards The Free Aceh Movement | Best 25 |
| Adhi Priamarizki | Cooperation with All, Development for All, and Participation for All: How ‘Peace ala JK’ can Bring Peace in Southern Thai | Best 25 |
| Daniah Arthamevia Putri Hidayah | When Dialogue Becomes Understanding | Best 25 |
| Halida Rizkina | Navigating Indonesia Centrifugal Force: Jusuf Kalla Way of Peace | Best 25 |
| Resty Destariza | Jusuf Kalla: Contribution and Existance in Global Peacemaking | Best 25 |
| Eka Deviana Putri | Bringing Peace at Home to the International level | Best 25 |
| Nikolaus Ageng Prathama | Rohingnya, Inter-Cultural Communication and Indonesian Conflict Resolution “Theory” | Best 25 |
| Dicky wahyudi | Capabilities Productivity of Reading: Jusuf Kalla within Solving Problems Conflict in Ambon and Becoming an Important Peace Figure for Indonesia | Best 25 |
| Marvento F. Laurens | Art as a method (tools) of peace transformation on conflict prevention by young people in Ambon | Best 25 |
| Dinda Lisna Amilia | Turning Polarization into Nothing through Patron’s Role | Best 25 |
| Cheryl Pangestu, Kezia Liana | Global Peace in Jusuf Kalla’s Hands: A Peace-maker the World Needs | Best 25 |
For further contact with the committee:
Email: competition@jiss.jenggalacenter.org, jenggalacenter.id@gmail.com
Website: jiss.jenggalacenter.org
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